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Palestinians deploy police force

About 3,000 officers posted to Gaza City with aim of ending factional fighting.

10 May 2007 11:23 GMT

Fatah and Hamas are supposed to join forces and end sectarian violence [EPA]

Some police were deployed overnight, but Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera's Gaza correspondent, said that Hani al-Qawasmi, the Palestinian interior minister who recently resigned, still wanted assurances.

Odeh said that al-Qawasmi had reiterated that if he were to stay on in his post he would want to be supplied with a budget and to receive assurances from security chiefs that they would report to him.

Odeh said that recently: "The situation [in Gaza] on the ground has reached the point of being completely out of control. The deployment and checkpoints ... are raising hopes that just maybe ... with the agreement ... law and order will begin to be restored. But it is a long way from this at this point."

United force

Nabil Shaath, a senior Fatah leader and close Abbas aide, said the policemen provided under the agreement will now take orders from the interior ministry under the unity government.

He said: "There is a full agreement. The determination is there and I think what we will see in the next 48 hours is a full deployment to deal with the lawlessness in the Gaza Strip."